afford them. Besides, the Housing Act is set up so that
having kids is just about the only way you can ever get into larger
living-quarters."

"Couldn't they try reverse-psychology? I mean, grant priority to
people who are willing to be sterilized?"

"They tried it, on a limited experimental scale, about three years ago
out on the West Coast."

"I never heard anything about it."

"Damned right you didn't," Frazer replied, grimly. "They kept the
whole project under wraps, and for a good reason. The publicity might
have wrecked the Administration."

"What happened?"

"What do you suppose happened? There were riots. Do you think a man
and his wife and three kids, living in three rooms, liked the idea of
standing by and watching a sterilized couple enjoy a four-room place
with lawn space? Things got pretty ugly, let me tell you. There was a
rumor going around that the country was in the hands of
homosexuals--the churches were up in arms--and if that wasn't bad
enough, we had to face up to the primary problem. There just wasn't,
just isn't, enough _space_. Not in areas suitable for maintaining a
population. Mountains are still mountains and deserts are still
deserts. Maybe we can put up housing in such regions, but who can live
there? Even with decentralization going full blast, people must live
within reasonable access to their work. No, we're just running out of
room."

Again the car halted on signal. Over the blasting of the horns, Harry
repeated his query about emigration.

Frazer shook his head, but made no attempt to reply until the horns
had quieted and they were under way once more.

"As for emigration, we're just getting some of our own medicine in
return. About eighty years ago, we clamped down and closed the door on
immigrants; established a quota. Now the same quota is being used
against us, and you can't really blame other nations for it. They're
facing worse population increases than we are. Look at the African
Federation, and what's happened there, in spite of all the
wealth! And South America is even worse, in spite of all the
reclamation projects. Fifteen years ago, when they cleared out the
Amazon Basin, they thought they'd have enough room for fifty years to
come. And now look at it--two hundred million, that's the latest
figure we've got."

"So what's the answer?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. If it wasn't for hydroponics and the Ag Culture
controls, we'd be licked right now. As it is, we